It’s Not Just Scary, It’s Dire

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Over the summer I worked at BusinessWeek. There existed a constant gloom about the state of the industry amongst many of the writers and a few of the interns. I remained buoyant. I thought things would be fine, that they’re just changing. Now I’m not so sure.

The economy won’t recover any time soon and the election is almost over which means another source of ad dollars will dry up. Mr. David Carr reports:

By some estimates, Senator Obama will have spent $250 million on local, cable and network television in just five months, a rate of advertising that outstrips Burger King, Apple and Gap on an annualized basis. And it dwarfs the $188 million that President Bush spent in 2004.

In the midst of this scary environment, the Star-Ledger just announced a plan to cut 40% of its newsroom staff. Where will those people get jobs? I have one idea, but a lot of places are cutting staff, so that might not work. Gawker has another idea: Talking Points Memo is looking for two reporters. Suddenly all those reporters that dissed blogs, might have to start singing a different tune.

See Also:

Voodoo Newspaper Economics

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